"I have often been called a Nazi, and, although it is unfair, I don't let it bother me. I don't let it bother me for one simple reason. No one has ever had a sexual fantasy about being tied to a bed and ravished by a liberal." PJ O'Rourke, Give War a Chance

Tuesday, April 09, 2013

History is hard!

Journalism too, I guess. This is why so many of us think in cliches, simplifications and broad-brush untruths. Tim Worstall illustrates a classic of the genre here. Why bother trying to understand the subtleties of politics if you can just mischaracterise your opponents' opinions to make them easier to argue against?

We are in the midst of the third great economic collapse since the Second World
War: all three have taken place since Thatcherism launched its great crusade. This current
crisis has roots in the Thatcherite free market experiment, which wiped out much
of the country’s industrial base in favour of a deregulated financial sector.

I count four 'facts' here and an opinion. While the opinion (that today's crisis has its roots in Thatcherite reform) is debateable, all four of the facts are flatly incorrect.

All three have taken place since Thatcherism
Well, no. In the 34 years after the war, there were three distinct recessions (although for the UK, the entire 1970s was essentially one long crisis). In the 10 years of her time in office there were two. In the 23 years since there have been 3 (one of which the UK avoided entirely).

Manufacturing output was higher when she left office than when she entered. There was no wholesale destruction of industry. There was a sharp recession in the early 1980s, followed by more or less steady growth for the rest of the decade: the concept that Thatcher wiped out UK industry is a myth.

And deregulated the financial sector

This is practically an article of faith on the left - that Thatcher deregulated the financial sector and let the banks off the leash. Once again, it isn't true. Big Bang was a significant deregulation of the stock exchange, but its reforms only went as far as allowing foreign ownership of City brokers. The new working practices are more a product of globalisation (and increased computing power) than a result of 1986 reforms. As to banking, the Thatcher Government introduced by far the most stringent regulation seen up to then in the UK - the Banking Act of 1987 saw a substantial increase in the state's power to regulate the financial sector - a power that had been introduced for the first time only in 1979.

Traditionally, you are entitled to your own opinions; but not to your own facts. But then, cheap polemic must be a lot easier if you don't have to get your facts right.